The estate of Kuteearee, on the left-hand side of the road towards the Ramgunga and Ganges, is held by Runjeet Sing, of the Kuteear Rajpoot clan.  His estate yields to him about one hundred and twenty thousand rupees a-year, while he is assessed at only sixteen thousand.  While Hakeem Mehndee was in banishment at Futtehgurh, about fifteen years ago, he became intimate with Runjeet Sing, of Kuteearee; and when he afterwards became minister, in 1837, he is said to have obtained for him the King’s seal and signature to a perpetual lease at this rate, from which is deducted a nankar of four thousand, leaving an actual demand of only twelve thousand.  Were such grants, in perpetuity, respected in Oude, the ministers and their minions would soon sell the whole of his Majesty’s dominions, and leave him a beggar.  He has not yet been made to pay a higher rate; not, however, out of regard for the King’s pledge, but solely out of that for Runjeet’s fort of Dhunmutpoor, on the bank of the Ganges, his armed bands, and his seven pieces of cannon.  He has been diligently employing all his surplus rents in improving his defensive means; and, besides his fort and guns, is said to have a large body of armed and disciplined men.  He has seized upon a great many villages around, belonging to weaker proprietors:  and is every year adding to his estate in this way.  In this the old Amil, Hafiz Abdoollah, acquiesced, solely because he had not the means nor the energy to prevent it.  He got his estate excluded from the jurisdiction of the local authorities, and placed in the Huzoor Tuhseel.

Like others of his class, who reside on the border, he has a village in the British territory to reside in, unmolested, when charged by the Oude authorities with heavy crimes and balances.  He had been attacked and driven across the Ganges, in 1837, for contumacy and rebellion; deprived of his estate, and obliged to reside at Futtehgurh, where he first became acquainted with Hakeem Mehndee.  The Oude Government has often remonstrated against the protection which this contumacious and atrocious landholder receives from our subjects and authorities.* Crimes in this district are not quite so numerous as in Bangur; but they are of no less atrocious a character.  The thieves and robbers of Bangur, when taken and taxed with being so, say, “of course we are robbers—­if we were not, how should we have been permitted to reside in Bangur?” All are obliged to fight and plunder with the landholders, or to rob for them on distant roads, and in distant villages.

[* See the Resident’s letter to Government North-Western Provinces, 3rd August, 1837.  The King’s letter to the Resident, 7th April, 1837.  The same to the same, 19th May, 1837.  Depositions and urzies.  Runjeet Sing was attacked by the King’s troops and driven across the Ganges again in June 1851, and died during the contest, which is being continued by his son. 1851.—­W.  H. S.]

My camp has been robbed several times within the time I have been out, and the property has been traced to villages in the Sundeela and Bangur districts.  In the Sundeela district it can be recovered when traced with a small force, and the thieves taken; but in the Bangur district it would require a large military force well commanded, and a large train of artillery to recover the one or seize the other.